


Rage Break

by EmberSwitch



Series: The Break Saga [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Enemies to Friends, F/F, It's really just all Catra and Glimmer, MAYBE friends to lovers, Multi, eventually, slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 16:32:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17227490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberSwitch/pseuds/EmberSwitch
Summary: Ever since the Battle of Bright Moon, Catra has been acting crazier and crazier.  Finally, after nearly killing Adora in battle, Glimmer is forced to teleport both herself and the "Mad Cat of the Hoard" out of harms way and into the depths of a First One's Temple.  During a brief battle, Glimmer uses a power she didn't know she had that leaves both herself and Catra unconscious in dangerous territory.   Now Glimmer is trapped underground, with no magic, no friends, and nowhere to escape the Mad Cat's wrath.Only, it seems Catra can't feel anger anymore...





	1. Out of the frying pan

In the weeks following the battle of Bright Moon, rumors began to circulate amongst the rebellion about a merciless new force commander attacking civilian villages.  Those rumors quickly gave way to _more_ rumors, each one more fantastical and horrible than the next.  Stories about a clawed demon that pounced around the battle field striking down friend and foe alike as it went, spread through rebellion camps like wildfire.  Then there were rumors that the hoard had torn Entrapta’s brilliant brain from her charred corpse, and was keeping it in a jar hooked up to some diabolical machine that used it to create new and deadlier weapons, like the new trap tanks and enhanced hoard bots.  These were quickly followed by the rumor that these machines were piloted by the disembodied brains of any rebellion soldiers the hoard had captured. 

 

These rumors decimated the rebellion’s morale, even so soon after such a decisive victory as the battle of Bright Moon.  Things did not improve when confirmation came that at least one of the rumors was true.  There _was_ a new commander of the hoard, and it was none other than the leader of the Bright Moon attack, Catra.

 

Unlike the previous Force commander, the “Mad Cat of the hoard” as most of the rebellion was calling her, was in the fray of every battle she commanded.  She seemed to refuse to use any of the constantly improving weaponry the rest of her soldiers had at their disposal.  Instead, she leapt about the battlefield using nothing but her own claws to tear into any misfortunate she happened to lay eyes on, sometimes even attacking her own troops if there were no rebellion soldiers about.  This unique form of encouragement drove her troops to constantly seek out rebellion soldiers to fight, lest they be found unoccupied by their commander. 

 

Glimmer could tell Adora didn’t want to believe the news about her former best friend.  Adora had never tried to pretend that Catra was the best person, but the horror stories coming from the battle fields were of a down right monster.  When the Princesses and Bow finally arrived on the scene and got a chance to see Catra in action first hand, they saw that the rumors hardly did her justice.  Whenever Catra saw She-Ra she would fly into a feral rage, loosing focus on nearly everyone and anything else around her.  This quickly proved to be a double-edged sword, for while it took Catra out of the battle, it also took She-Ra out too, leaving Glimmer, Bow, and the rest of the Princess Alliance to deal with the ever evolving Hoard army.  These battles would rage until either the Rebellion forced the hoard back and someone, usually Scorpia had to physically drag Catra away with them as she continued to fight to get at Adora, or (as was becoming far more often the case,) the hoard would force the Rebellion to retreat and She-Ra and her friends would only manage to escape Catra’s wrath by the slimmest of margins.    

 

The hoard was pressing its advantage, and the handful of captured hoard soldiers from the few battles they had won seemed almost grateful to be locked in a prison cell, so long as it meant being far away from Catra.

 

 

Things were becoming desperate for both sides. 

 

Finally, the day came when the hoard marched on Bright Moon again.  There was no Etheria shattering apocalypse this time, just Catra and her hi-tech army marching along the path they had cut through the forest before.  This time the rebellion forces laid a trap and met them in the woods before they made it to Bright Moon and, to the rebellions good fortune, it worked and the battle of the Wispering Woods began well in their favor. 

 

As the battle raged on and Glimmer pulled her father’s staff free from another destroyed Hoard bot, she looked around for She-Ra and Catra.  Everyone usually gave them a wide birth during the battles after Catra had shown she wasn’t above using human shields to gain the upper claw.  Glimmer found the two battling fiercely in a small private ravine below.  At least, Catra was fighting fiercely.  She-Ra’s face was wracked with grief and pain as she blocked and parried Catra’s barrage of claws and insults with her sword. 

 

“What’s the matter, Adora?  Don’t know how to fight someone on equal footing?” 

 

Even at a distance, Glimmer could see that Catra’s mismatched eyes were half glazed as they fought, and her face seemed stuck in a gruesome half grin.  It was a hideous sight. 

 

“Catra, stop! Please!” She-Ra pleaded, taking another step back under the assault.  “This isn’t you!  You’re not like this!”

 

“You know nothing about me!” Catra raged, her grin twisting into a snarl and her eyes nearly bugging out of her skull with rage.  “You never did!  All you ever thought of was yourself, and how you could use _me_ to make yourself look better!  Well how do you look now!”

 

With speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye, Catra slashed a claw at She-Ra’s face.  She-Ra put up her sword to block it, but Catra’s hand swerved in midair and sank her claws deep into She-Ra’s hands where she gripped her sword.  She-Ra cried out and felt Catra sink her other claw in and yank She-Ra agonizingly down to her knees by her impaled hands, bringing her down to eye level with Catra.   

 

“You’re nothing,” Catra spat.  “Just a pretty face who’s had everything handed to her on a silver sword.  You’re pathetic.  An eye sore.”  The edge of Catra’s lips twitched and then pulled back in a wicked grin.  She ripped one of her hands free of She-Ra’s with a cruel twist, eliciting a scream from She-Ra as she did.  She raised her blood dripping hand high above her head and stretched her claws out wide.  “So how about we put your eyes out?” 

 

“NO!” 

 

Glimmer was next to them in an instant, staff raised and teeth gritted.  Her sudden appearance startled Catra just long enough for Glimmer to knock her away, ripping She-Ra’s other hand free as she went.  The pain was too much and She-Ra lost her concentration, changing back into Adora and dropping her sword as she attempted to clutch feebly at her bleeding hands.  Glimmer did her best not to look at her friend, and kept her attention fixed on Catra. 

 

Catra meanwhile was staring at Glimmer, as if seeing her for the first time. 

 

“You,” she said quietly, slowly getting to her feet, her gaze never wavering from Glimmer.  “You were the one she rescued.” 

 

“Stay back,” Glimmer warned, pointing her staff at Catra while she desperately tried to channel enough energy to blast Catra further away.  She gritted her teeth, but Catra’s wide eyed stare was so haunting it made it difficult for her to concentrate. 

 

“You’re the one who took her from me,” Catra continued, taking a zombie like step towards Glimmer.  “It’s all _your_ fault!” 

 

Catra’s eyes blazed and her face contorted into a primal snarl of pure rage as she pounced.  Glimmer’s first instinct was to teleport away, but with a helpless Adora directly behind her she had no choice but to put up her staff and try to fight.  Catra crashed on top of her like a typhoon of teeth and claws.  She snarled and roared as she swiped madly at Glimmer’s face, while the smaller girl held her just out of reach with her staff. 

 

“Glimmer!” 

 

Glimmer tore her eyes away from Catra to look at Adora, who was frantically trying to pick back up her sword.  Her grip was too weak, and she could hardly close her fingers, much less raise the sword above her head to change back into She-Ra.  Then Glimmer saw something that made her blood run cold.  Adora looked up from the sword and her face hardened into her patented “I’m out of options so I’m about to do something suicidaly brave” face, and focused on Catra. 

 

Glimmer quickly realized that she had to put some serious distance between Catra and Adora if either of them were going to survive the day.  So she shut her eyes, cleared her mind as best she could, and disappeared in a flash of purple light, taking the still howling Catra along with her. 

 

* * *

 

 

One of the many benefits of teleportation, was that the teleporter was able to adjust how they, and everyone they took with them arrived, (providing that they had the mental clarity to do so.)  When Catra and Glimmer reappeared, Catra was still on her knees clawing at mid-air, but Glimmer was now standing behind her with her staff at the ready.  Glimmer swung down with all her strength, but this time Catra was ready.  Her ears twitched ever so slightly, and an instant later she turned around and grabbed the staff with her bare hands.  Glimmer gasped in shock.  The force of the war staff’s blow should have been enough to shatter Catra’s wrist, but she had stopped it as easily as if it had been a piece of straw. 

 

Catra’s manic grin nearly doubled in size. 

 

Before she could do anything else, Catra ripped the staff out of her hands and threw it aside.  Then she pounced on top of Glimmer and pinned her painfully down by the throat. 

 

“Now you die,” Catra said, her eyes wild and unfocused.  “Die, die, _die_!” 

 

Glimmer fought and struggled as Catra slowly crushed her windpipe.  Panic started to fill her mind as the edges of her vision began to darken.  All she could see was Catra’s terrible, insane face.  It seemed close to both laughter and sobbing at the same time.  Glimmer closed her eyes and put her hands against Catra’s chest, trying to push her away.  She tried to summon enough magic to blast Catra off, but her hands merely flashed with light.  She reached deeper into her core, trying to find the well of power that had let her break free from Shadow Weaver’s prison and save Adora. 

 

Adora.  If she died now, she’d never be able to see her again.  Or Bow, or her mother!  Glimmer’s mind snapped into focus.  She would not die here, not after everything that had happened.  She still had so much more to do.  She needed to be there for her mother for the anniversary of her father’s death next week, and Bow wanted to show her the new arrows he had been working on, and she still had to make Adora understand that when a girl took you to see something as romantic as a meteor shower you were supposed to at least kiss her at the end of the night and not just run off to do some ‘night training’ and leave her standing on the balcony!  She definitely could _not_ die after that! 

 

A torrent of power burst from Glimmer like water breaking through a damn.  It surged out of Glimmer’s hands and through Catra’s body like lightning, forcing Catra to let go of her and throw her head back, her mouth open in a silent scream.  Purple light shot from her mouth and eyes as Glimmer’s magic poured through her.  Glimmer only faintly acknowledged that Catra had released her throat.  All she could do was let her power surge forth as she tried not to lose consciousness.  She had no control over it, no way of stopping it, and no clue what she was even doing!  She was locked in place just as Catra was until the last spark of her magic ran out. 

 

Glimmer felt her arms drop dead to her sides.  A second later she felt Catra fall off of her and on to her side with a dull thump.  Glimmer tried to open her eyes and sit up, but the drain was too great, and she passed out into the comforting dark oblivion.  Catra lay motionless beside her.  Her eyes and mouth continued to glow for a second or two more, then the light faded away.  As it did Catra’s eyes closed and her body deflated.  A second later she took a long deep breath. 

 

It was the deepest breath Catra had ever taken in her life, and it made her smile gently as she unconsciously adjusted herself, and settled in for a long and much needed catnap. 

 

 

 


	2. Life Without Anger

Glimmer woke up with the grandmother of all headaches and feeling weaker then she had ever felt in her life.  There was also an odd sense of emptiness in her chest, as if something she hadn’t even known was there, was suddenly missing. 

 

She groaned and sat up, holding her head and then rubbing her throat where Catra had strangled her.  Opening her eyes, she looked around and took in her surroundings.  She hadn’t had any particular destination in mind when she had teleported them, her only thought was to get them as far away from Adora as possible. 

 

They were in a dimly lit, probably underground hallway of a First Ones ruin.  She gulped, and had the sinking feeling that she had just gone from out of the frying pan and into the fire.  She thought she heard a low rumbling sound and quickly checked down the hallway.  There was no sign of glowing red eyes in either direction.  Perhaps since they had bypassed the main room and not talked to the hologram there, the temples security hadn’t been activated yet?  Still, she felt it would be best not to wait around and find out. 

 

She felt something move against her and she looked down at her side.  Glimmer blinked and rubbed her eyes to make sure the dim light wasn’t playing tricks on her vision.  She checked again, and saw Force Commander Catra, the Mad Cat of the hoard, curled up into a ball against her side; tail draped lazily across Glimmer’s lap, and snoring away softly with her head cradled on her folded arms.  Glimmer might have found the scene quite adorable, if she couldn’t still feel the bruises on her throat. 

 

Glimmer glanced around for her staff and saw it laying nearly a dozen yards away against the wall where Catra had thrown it.  Glimmer bit her lip.  She was completely drained of magic, a homicidal maniac was using her as a bedwarmer, and her only weapon lay far out of reach.  It seemed that now she was out of the fire, and had been thrown directly into the sun. 

 

Glimmer weighed her options.  She could try teleporting, but just the thought of it made her feel like passing out again.  She could try sneaking away to get her staff, but with Catra’s tail wrapped around her, the chances of making it even a few feet before waking her and being used as a scratching post were slim to none.  Then again, her only other option was to wait there and hope one of the First One’s robots came along and decided to eat Catra first. 

 

After about 45 seconds of waiting, Glimmer made up her mind to chance going for the staff. 

 

Ever so gently, Glimmer reached down and began to slowly unwind Catra’s tail from around her waist.  Her fur was a bit greasy and slightly matted, as if it hadn’t been cared for in some time, but it was still pleasantly warm to the touch.  As soon as she had managed to extract herself from the tail, Catra gave a sleepy grumble and began to stir. 

 

Glimmer froze, holding her breath as she watched Catra roll over to face her.  Glimmer felt her heart skip a beat as Catra blearily opened her eyes and looked sleepily at Glimmers hip.  Then she yawned, and curled up around Glimmer like she was an oversized teddy bear, tucking her head neatly into the small of Glimmer’s back, and wrapping her tail back over Glimmer’s lap again.

 

Glimmer didn’t dare to move.  She wasn’t sure if her heart was racing too fast to count, or had simply stopped beating all together.  Just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, (or weirder,) the rumbling sound she had heard earlier came back, this time even louder.  Sweating, and feeling her head start to spin from the stress, Glimmer quickly checked the hallway again.  Again, no eyes.  Could it just be the machinery of the temple, she wondered.  No, it sounded closer.  _Much_ closer.  Almost as if... 

 

Glimmer’s mouth fell open as she realized Catra was purring.  Actually _purring_ in her sleep while cuddled up around her sworn enemy. 

 

As Catra nuzzled into her back, Glimmer tried to take in the pure weirdness of the situation.  She quickly realized she had another problem.  Catra had caught her mid escape, meaning the odd angle she was reclined in and the building tremor in her arm meant that she wasn’t going to be able to stay in her current position very long.  Taking a deep breath, she began to unwind Catra’s tail again.

 

“Hmmm?” 

 

This time when Catra began to stir Glimmer through caution to the winds.  Throwing off Catra’s tail, she scrambled to her feet and ran as best she could for her staff.  With a grunt of exertion, she reached out to grab it, only for her fingers to fumble and drop it to the floor with a loud clatter.  She cursed under her breath and snatched it up again before turning around and putting her back to the wall, partially to guard her back, but mostly because she wasn’t sure she could stay on her feet without something to lean on.  Even as she held out her staff to defend herself, she knew it was over.  She barely had the strength to hold it up, and her vision was blurring so badly she couldn’t see Catra’s approach in the soft gloom.  She was dead, but with luck she might be able to knock out a few of Catra’s teeth before she fell.  Gritting her own teeth, she prepared herself for the on slot of claws and howling to come. 

 

Only, it didn’t come. 

 

As the seconds passed, her vision began to clear, and she saw that Catra was _not_ charging at her with claws bared and mad eyes.  She was still sitting on her knees where Glimmer had left her, blinking and looking around with a confused, and possibly even worried expression, as if not sure what was going on or where she was. 

 

After a minute, Catra looked down at her hands and flexed her fingers.  Her claws sprang fourth, causing Glimmer to jerk her staff back up again, but Catra merely examined them carefully before retracting them.  She ran a hand through her shaggy matted mane of hair, then began rubbing her face as if to check it was still there.  After checking herself over from ear to tail, Catra looked back at Glimmer and asked,

 

“What did you do to me?”

 

There was no anger or accusation in her voice.  Just genuine wonder, and again, just a hint of fear. 

 

“What do you mean, what did I do to you?” Glimmer asked back.  “You tried to kill me!  I defended myself!”

 

“Yeah, but,” Catra said slowly, looking at her hands and then touching the sides of her face again.  “I can think now.”

 

Glimmer let the staff fall a little till the point rested on the floor.  “…huh?”

 

“I can think clearly,” Catra repeated.  “It… It’s like all the anger is just… gone!”  Her nose wrinkled and she gave a quick sniff under her own armpit.  “Whew!  And I smell like I haven’t taken a shower in weeks!  Ugg, my hair feels like it too.” 

 

As Catra frowned and began attempting to comb out her hair with her own claws, Glimmer gaped at her. 

 

“Hang on, you just tried to kill Adora, then me, we’re stuck in a First One’s temple with giant robot bugs probably just around the corner ready to kill us, and you’re worried about your hair?” 

 

Catra blinked and cocked her head to one side, as if considering Glimmer’s observation. 

 

“I mean, I _get_ it,” Glimmer added, rolling her eyes with a shrug, “But still…”

 

“What did you do to me?” Catra repeated again, this time getting to her feet. 

 

“I don’t know!” Glimmer protested quickly, raising her staff again.  “You were kind of strangling me, so I tried to blast you off and you just… didn’t move!” 

 

Catra’s ears flattened as Glimmer shouted at her and she sheepishly looked away, rubbing one of her arms with the other. 

 

“Yeah, um, about that…” 

 

Glimmer waited for a response but none came.  Catra just stood there awkwardly, looking more like a child who’d been caught stealing a cookie then the fearsome commander of the hoard. 

 

“You… you do remember that right?”  Glimmer asked, hesitantly. 

 

“Oh yeah, everything,” Catra said, waving her hand dismissively.   She still kept her gaze purposefully on the wall instead of Glimmer however.  “The war, Adora’s betrayal, the ball, Bright Moon, me trying to strangle the life out of you with my bare hands.  …Bit fuzzy on how we actually got here though.  Or where here is,” she added, looking around the hallway. 

 

“I teleported us here,” Glimmer said.  Then raising her staff again she added, “and I’m your only way out too, so you better not try anything!”

 

Catra looked her up and down and cocked her head to one side raising an eyebrow. 

 

“You look like you can barely stand.”

 

“So?”

 

“…and judging by how much you’re trembling just at me standing here, I’m pretty sure you would have teleported away already if you could.” 

 

“I am not trembling!” Glimmer roared, and tightening her grip, charged at Catra with a mighty battle cry and her staff raised to strike!

 

…for all of four steps before exhaustion overtook her and she began to topple forward, her eyes rolling back in her skull as she began to black out again. 

 

“Woah!”

 

To her surprise, instead of colliding face first into the hard floor, a strong arm caught her around the waist and helped lead her back to the wall. 

 

“Easy there, She-Ra junior,” Catra said, sitting her down with her back to the wall.

 

Glimmer took a minute to get her breath back, cursing her weakness silently, and glaring at Catra with narrowed, but curious eyes. 

 

“…Why did you help me?” she asked finally. 

 

Catra blinked and looked away scratching her cheek. 

 

“Uh, you just looked kind of pathetic falling on your face like that,” she said.  Then she added quietly, “I didn’t really think about it.” 

 

“Okay, so something is _definitely_ wrong with you,” Glimmer sneered.  To her surprise Catra looked back at her with hurt in her eyes.  When she spoke, her voice wasn’t angry or accusing, it was just scared. 

 

“You think I haven’t figured that out yet?  I’m supposed to hate you!  I’m supposed to want to tear your face off, but I look at you and I just…  I just…”  She trailed off, looking sideways at the wall again while her ears flattened out. 

 

“You just… what?” Glimmer asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer. 

 

Catra was quiet for a long time, just rubbing her arm as her lips shifted from side to side as if trying to decide what to say. 

 

“I just feel… sad.” 

 

Tears began to fall from her mismatched eyes and she quickly turned and walked a little way down the hall.  Glimmer stared after her in shock.  In less than a minute, Catra had gone from friendly, to panicked, and then critically depressed.  Glimmer wasn’t sure she was up to dealing with this, especially if _homicidal_ Catra decided to come out again.  Not seeing any other options though, she shakily got to her feet and followed after Catra.  She had only gone a yard or two down the hall, but Glimmer still found it an effort to go even that far.  When she did, she reached out a hand, then paused, unsure what she was supposed to say or do. 

 

This was Catra.  _Catra_.  The mad cat of the battle field, and the second in command of the hoard itself.  Glimmer couldn’t feel sorry for her, not after all the people she had hurt, the villages she had raised to the ground, the pain of every kind she had inflicted on her best friend, (not to mention that attempted murder a little while ago.)  She couldn’t feel any sympathy for the monster in front of her. 

 

If only Catra had the decency to look like a monster, instead of crouching down and hugging herself like a little kid as she wiped her face and tried to hide her tears.

 

Glimmer sighed and reached out and put her hand on Catra’s shoulder.  Catra visibly jumped and froze, as did Glimmer.  For a moment, neither of them said a word.  Then, once Glimmer was confident she wasn’t about to have her face torn off, she asked, 

 

“Why are you sad?”

 

It was a profoundly stupid question really.  And Glimmer fully expected Catra to sneer and spit back some snide retort.  But she didn’t. 

 

“Because you took away my reason for living.  Because I didn’t go after her when I had the chance.  Because I’m still stuck in a living hell hole, only now I’m mostly in charge of it.  Because I never wanted any of this to happen.  Because it’s all my fault and I don’t know what to do anymore and I just want everything to go back to the way it was and-“

 

Her voice became choked off by racking sobs, and she buried her face in her knees to hide them, still with her back turned to Glimmer.  Glimmer, not knowing what else to do, slowly bent down and pulled Catra into an awkward hug.  Catra immediately turned and threw her arms around her neck and began sobbing into her shoulder.  Slowly, Glimmer returned the hug and began to rock Catra back and forth, like her mother had done for her on more than one occasion. 

 

The two of them sat together on the floor as all the years of pain and suffering poured out from Catra’s heart, and onto Glimmer’s shoulder. 

 

* * *

 

 

When her tears were finally spent, Catra simply laid against Glimmer, who leaned against the wall, her arms hanging limply around Catra’s waist.  Glimmer idly watched Catra’s tail tap against the floor as she wondered just how hard she must have had hit her head earlier.  She surely had to be brain damaged for her to be going along with all this madness. 

 

“What did you do to me?”  Catra asked again from her shoulder.  Glimmer just closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

 

“Like I said the last two dozen times, I don’t know.” 

 

“…I can’t get angry.” 

 

Glimmer’s eyebrows went up a little at that. 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

Catra’s tail stopped tapping on the ground and began swishing back and fourth indecisively. 

 

“It’s like, all my anger’s gone.  Like I don’t have any more.  When I think about something that should make me angry, I get another feeling.  Like being sad or scared.  Weak.  You made me weak didn’t you?”

 

Glimmer sighed and patted Catra on the back. 

 

“I don’t know what I did, but feeling something other than anger isn’t weakness.  And it sounds to me like you’ve been using your anger a little _too_ much lately, so why don’t you try exploring some other options?”

 

“I don’t like this,” Catra said. 

 

Glimmer was reminded of a small child who didn’t understand what feelings were.  Then her mind flitted back to her first days with Adora, and she began to wonder if Catra even _knew_ what other feelings were. 

 

“Look, I wouldn’t worry if I were you.  I doubt this is permanent.”  Glimmer silently congratulated herself on her lie and went on.  “So why don’t you try making the most of this?”

 

Catra sat back to look her face to face.  Her multicolor eyes were different shades of red, her eyes were puffy, and she looked as exhausted as Glimmer felt. 

 

“What do you mean?” she asked wiping her eyes. 

 

Again, the thought that that would have been very cute had this been anyone else crossed Glimmer’s mind. 

 

“I don’t know.  How about you try approaching some old problems without being angry?  Try to figure out what solutions you might get?”

 

Catra looked at her for a long while, then looked down and put her hand to her chin in concentration, her ears flattening out as she did so. 

 

_‘…Cute,’_ thought Glimmer, before she could stop herself. 

 

Catra sat there, thinking and occasionally grimacing for a few minutes while her tail swished back and fourth behind her.  Then she shook her head as if tired of the idea and stood up. 

 

“…we should get going,” she said finally.  “This looks like a First One’s temple.  Nobody on either side is going to think to look for us here, so we better find our own way out.” 

 

“Yeah,” Glimmer said with a grunt as she pushed her self to her feet.  “Okay, you go that way, and I’ll go this way.”  She gestured towards their respective ends of the hall.  Catra shook her head. 

 

“You can barely walk, and I can’t fight like this.  We should stick together until we find an exit.  These places can be pretty… It can get in your head.”  Catra wrapped her tail around herself and grabbed her arm again as she looked into the gloom. 

 

Glimmer watched Catra for a moment, then waved her staff down the hall.

 

“Fine.  You go first.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So how long have you been in love with her?”

 

Glimmer stopped dead in her tracks to stare at Catra.

 

“W-wha??” she stammered back.

 

They had been walking in silence for nearly an hour down the same dark hallway, stopping every ten minutes or so for Glimmer to rest.  Catra hadn’t said a word the entire time, seemingly to engrossed in her new mental exercise of finding solutions without anger.  Until now.

 

Catra stopped too and turned back to look at her.  Her face was completely neutral, though her tail still swished back and forth behind her with an uneven rhythm.  Glimmer wished she knew what that meant. 

 

“Adora.  Or She-Ra I guess,” Catra added looking away again.  Her tail fell still. 

 

“…It’s Adora,” Glimmer said, and began walking again.  “Guess I’m not great at hiding it huh?”

 

Catra snickered. 

 

“I’m pretty sure the only one on either side of the war who doesn’t know is Adora herself.”

 

“And my mother,” Glimmer said under her breath then louder, “Yeah, I don’t know how much more subtle I can be with her till she get’s the hint.  I’m starting to think she’s just not interested…”

 

“She is,” Catra assured her.  “The girl was willing to go back to Shadow Weaver for you.  That’s more than she was willing to do for me…” she said quietly.  She shook her head and continued. “Adora’s a brilliant leader, but she’s thick as the Whispering Woods when it comes to the heart.  My advice, forget subtlety.  Spell it out for her using small words and lots of pictures and diagrams.  She _loves_ pictures and diagrams.” 

 

“Don’t I know it,” Adora said, remembering Adora’s prep for the Princess Prom. 

 

“Mhmm.  You never answered my question though.  Come on, how long?”

 

Glimmer thought for a moment.

 

“I don’t know really.  I guess it started pretty soon after meeting her, but I don’t think I really knew for sure until she came to rescue me and that shadow witch tried to wipe her memory.  I just couldn’t bear the thought of her loosing herself like that.  At that moment, I knew I was willing to do anything for her.”  She gave a hollow laugh.  “Of course, it’s kind of hard being in love with someone who throws herself into danger every time someone screams for help.  …Oh stars, is this how my mom feels about me?” 

 

“…Adora loves protecting people,” Catra said flatly, as Glimmer struggled with her new revelation.  “Whether they want her to or not.” 

 

Glimmer frowned.

 

“There’s nothing wrong with protecting the people you care about.” 

 

“Except when that protection is holding you back.”  Catra’s voice was still void of any anger, but she sounded tired again.  As if she’d had this conversation too many times for her to become invested in it again. 

 

She didn’t realize Glimmer had stopped until she walked right past her. 

 

“What’s wrong?  Do you need another break?” 

 

Glimmer shook her head and started walking again. 

 

“No, I just… you’re right.” 

 

This time it was Catra’s turn to stare open mouthed at Glimmer.

 

“I… what?”

 

“You’re right,” Glimmer repeated, looking at Catra.  “My mom made me a Commander in the rebellion, but she _forbade_ me from fighting and did everything she could to keep me away from danger.  Even though I _knew_ I could help people.  She just wanted to protect me, but all she did was hold me back and push me away…” 

 

Catra continued to stare at her, her mouth hanging open. 

 

“It’s not like I don’t understand _why_ she did it,” Glimmer added turning again and continuing down the tunnel.  “But you’re right.  Sometimes you need to trust the other person to take care of themselves.  Or maybe just stumble and grow a little.”

 

“Exactly!” 

 

Glimmer jumped and turned around.  Catra hadn’t moved from where she’d left her, but now she was holding out both hands to point at Glimmer.  Her eyes looked almost wet with tears at being so happy that finally, _finally_ someone understood. 

 

“I spent my entire life in Adora’s shadow,” Catra began, pacing back and forth.  “And then when she leaves, I start moving up the ranks faster than any cadet in history!  I went from a total _nobody,_ to force _Commander_ in like less than two months!  But does she see that?  No!  It’s always ‘I’m trying to protect you Catra,’ or ‘don’t let go, _I’ll_ save us Catra,’ or ‘this is a civilian village not a military post Catra.’  Like, she always treated me like some goofy side kick or her damsel in destress!  She never saw me as a warrior!  As her equal!  Not until I tried to kill her a few times.  Not that she’d ever actually die of course,” Catra added, rolling her eyes.  “No, the threat of death is for us lesser mortals, not the great She-Ra!”

 

Glimmer watched as Catra continued to pace up and down and rant on about Adora and her life in the hoard.  Oddly enough, she found herself nodding in agreement with most, (though certainly not all) of what Catra was complaining about.  It was also strange to hear someone complain about something without a single hint of anger.  Catra was just tired.  She was tired of not being understood, tired of not having any respect, but mostly, she was just tired of Adora. 

 

“She’s always Adora to you, isn’t she?”  Glimmer asked after several minutes of Catra’s ranting. 

 

Catra stopped and looked at her in surprise, as if she had forgotten Glimmer was even there.  She straightened up and cleared her throat awkwardly. 

 

“Well, yeah.  Of course she’s Adora.  Just cause you all think she’s some perfect savior, doesn’t mean I’m just going to forget who she really is.” 

 

Now it was Glimmer’s turn to snicker. 

 

“What?” 

 

“Just, I don’t think I could ever think of Adora as ‘ _perfect_.’  Especially after the time I had to save her from her own bed.” 

 

Catra’s ears perked up and a mischievous smile spread across her lips. 

 

“Oh really?”

 

 


	3. Revelations.  Everybody Has Them.

They spent the next hour or so sharing stories of Adora as they continued their way down the hall.  Occasionally they’d stop to remark how long the tunnel was, and wonder if they were just going in circles.  Inevitably however, the conversation always turned back to Adora and her more humorous misadventures.   

 

“Wait wait wait,” Catra said, trying to quite her laughter.  “You mean Adora got _drunk_ off a _cold_?”

 

Glimmer wiped her eyes and tried to stifle her own giggles.  “No no, it was from some old First One’s tech Entrapta was messing around with.  She kept calling it a virus ‘cause it was infecting her robots.  Anyway She-Ra tried smashing one of them with her sword and she got infected, and next thing you know she’s back to being Adora only she was totally wacked out of her mind!  I had to drag her all over the place while Entrapta kept getting lost in her own house.  You should have seen her, she was all happy and giggling, and had, like, no self-control at all.  She was the most adorable thing _ever_!” 

 

“Oh man, I would give anything to see that,” Catra said wiping her own eye.  “Oh man… Hmm, I wonder if I could get Entrapta to weaponize that virus…”  she added to herself. 

 

“Don’t,” Glimmer warned.  “Before she went all wacky She-Ra went just as crazy as the… wait.”  Glimmer stopped and stared at Catra in horror.  “You mean, you guys really _do_ have Entrapta’s brain in a jar?!”

 

“What?”  Catra looked at her, appalled.  “Of course not!  Why would I put my top engineer’s brain inside of a jar?!   …actually, never mind.  I could totally see Entrapta doing that to herself,” she said, rubbing her temples.

 

“But… But… she’s alive?” 

 

Catra frowned and gave Glimmer a nasty look. 

 

“Of course she’s _alive_.  Though I don’t see how that’s any of your business since you and your friends _abandoned_ her.” 

 

“Abandoned!?”  If Glimmer hadn’t been reeling from the news that Entrapta wasn’t dead, she might have noticed the edge in Catra’s voice.  “But, Bow said she died!  She went back after some robot she made at the airlocks and got trapped and burned to a crisp!”

 

“The airlocks?”  Catra repeated, aghast.  “I found her in the ventilation system after waiting two days for you all to come back for her like a lost puppy!  Those airlocks sanitize at over four thousand degrees.  There’s no way she got caught in there, she didn’t have so much as a fleck of soot on her!” 

 

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Glimmer said, rubbing her head. 

 

“…Well, neither does Entrapta most of the time, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.  I guess,” Catra added, also rubbing her head. 

 

“She’s alive,” Glimmer said quietly.   “I can’t believe she’s alive… Wait, she’s your top engineer?  She betrayed us!?” 

 

“Uh, yeah.  It wasn’t that hard to get her on board actually,” Catra said, shrugging.  “All I had to do was point out that you guys weren’t coming back for her, and then let her run amok and play with all the Hoard tech she could get her hair on.  I’m pretty sure she’s upgraded everything from our patrol bot’s weapon systems to the toilets.  She’s really obsessed with the Black Garnet too.  I got her a piece of first one’s tech right after we captured her and she used it to “hack the planet,” whatever that means.  Anyway, she’s the one who triggered that apocalypse thing that let us march on Bright Moon.” 

 

“Entrapta would never do that!” Glimmer snapped.  “She would never do something so… Oh, who am I kidding of course she would.” 

 

Glimmer groaned and slapped a hand to her face while Catra smiled smugly at her. 

 

“Bet you wish you treated her better now, huh?”

 

“We didn’t mistreat her!” Glimmer roared.  “She was our friend!  Sure, she could be a little… _eccentric_ at times, but she was still brilliant!  She was one of our first enlistments _because_ she was so brilliant!  I can’t believe this.  I went to, like, _five_ funerals for her!” 

 

“Mhmm, so you saw her as a tactical advantage and now your mad because we have her.  She sure sounds like a treasured ‘ _friend’_ to me,” Catra said, coolly leaning against a wall and looking at her nails. 

 

“Oh, don’t you _even_ ,” Glimmer snapped waving a finger in Catra’s face.  “ _You_ snatched her up for the exact same reason we did.  Admit it!  Why else would you have a ‘Princess’ as your head engineer.” 

 

“I imagine it escaped your memory,” Catra growled back, “but Scorpia is a Princess too!  And yes, I did originally take her in for her mechanical expertise, _at first_.  But I can tell a fellow outcast when I see one!” 

 

As soon as Catra had finished shouting that into Glimmer’s face, a look of shock and pain flashed across her own.  She turned away, her shoulders tense and her fists clenched.  Her tail wrapped tightly against her legs. 

 

“…Catra, I,” Glimmer began, but what could she say?  Catra was the enemy.  One of her most hated enemies in fact.  She wasn’t supposed to want to comfort her. 

 

“Forget it,” Catra said, wiping her eye.  She turned and began walking down the hallway again.  “Let’s just get out of here.” 

 

“…Yeah,” Glimmer agreed.  And in tense silence, they continued their way down the hall. 

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t much longer that they came to a sealed door. 

 

“Great,” Catra said, running her hand over the door.  “Don’t suppose you can just teleport us past this yet?” 

 

“It doesn’t just come back over time,” Glimmer said.  “Besides, I think I know how this works.  You just speak a password and it opens.  Adora showed me one time.”

 

“Oh right,” Catra said, snapping her fingers.  She cleared her throat.  “Ehm, Etheria!” 

 

Nothing happened. 

 

“Close,” Glimmer said, with a cocky smile.  She held out her hands and proclaimed, “Eternia!” 

 

Her voice echoed down the hall, but the door remained shut. 

 

“You sure that was it?”  Catra asked, tapping her chin as she examined the door.  Glimmer groaned and sank to the ground against a nearby wall. 

 

“Perfect,” Glimmer groaned.  “Now what do we do?”

 

“Hey, I’m not the one who trapped us down here, remember?” Catra said distractedly.  Glimmer shot her an irritated glare. 

 

“Well, considering I had to use up all my energy to stop you from murdering me, yeah.  It kind’a is.” 

 

Catra scowled at her but didn’t raise her voice. 

 

“Look, I was a bit crazy, okay?  I admit it.  I haven’t really been in my right mind since Bright Moon.  A little before actually, I mean, I let Entrapta trigger an apocalypse and all I saw was a chance to get back at Adora!”  

 

The door made a short buzzing noise and opened with a rumble of heavy machinery.  Catra and Glimmer both blinked at it in surprise. 

 

“Did… did that open from her name?”  Catra asked, pointing at the door.  Glimmer got to her feet. 

 

“Sounds about right for this place,” she grumbled, making her way inside.  “Either way, lets hurry before it closes again.” 

 

Catra dashed inside and the door shut behind her, plunging them into total darkness.  A second later there was a small beeping sound and the light of a small computer screen illuminated Catra’s face. 

 

“Where’d you get that?” Glimmer asked as Catra turned the screen away and began shining it around the room. 

 

“One of Entrapta’s gadgets she managed to talk me into taking.  It’s a handheld video com.  Also doubles as a homing beacon, and in this case, a really crappy flashlight.”  Catra clipped the small palm sized device to her belt and began making her way around the room.  “Come on, this way.” 

 

“What do you mean, this way?” Glimmer asked, not moving from her spot.  “That tiny thing barely gives off a candle’s light.  I can’t see a thing!”

 

“No need to be afraid of the dark, Princess,” Catra said, her voice unexpectedly smooth.  To Glimmer’s surprise, she felt Catra take her by the hand.  Two eyes appeared in the darkness, one yellow, one blue, and both twinkling with a mischief and confidence that sent interesting feelings up Glimmer’s spine.

 

“I had the shadows in it locked up a while ago.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So,” Catra asked as she led the way through the First One’s Temple.  “Any idea why Adora’s name is a password into this place?” 

 

“Considering this place is probably crawling with giant First One monsters, I don’t think now is the right time for idle chit chat.”  Glimmer replied, in a hushed whisper. 

 

Catra’s floating eyes rolled in place. 

 

“Don’t worry, Princess.  I’m more than a match for any old First One bugs we may run into. Here, duck.” 

 

Catra put her free hand on Glimmer’s shoulder and guided her down beneath a low hanging pipe or heavy cable.  They seemed to be in some kind of generator, or machine room, and Glimmer could tell Catra was getting quite the kick out of being the only one able to see in the dark.

 

“Yeah, I noticed your cocky personality was starting to come back,” Glimmer grumbled as she stood up again.  “All the more reason to hurry up and get out of here before…”

 

Glimmer trailed off, afraid she had already said too much, but Catra finished the sentence for her.

 

“Before I decide to kill you or take you prisoner again?”  Glimmer gulped and nodded.  Catra just let out a dry chuckle.  “Don’t worry, Princess.  Soon as we get out of here you’re free to go.  Cat’s honor”

 

Glimmer furrowed her brow as she wondered exactly how much honor a cat _did_ have, but kept hold of Catra’s hand as they continued forward into the darkness. 

 

“Why would you do that?” she asked skeptically. 

 

“I don’t like owing anyone anything,” Catra replied flatly.  “You saved me, so I’m letting you go.  Simple as that.”  

 

“I saved you?” Glimmer asked in surprise.  “When?”

 

“Don’t be stupid,” Catra snapped, though Glimmer thought she felt Catra’s tail brush against her thigh.   

 

“Say I am,” Glimmer asked, surprising herself with how easily (and flirtily?) she said it.  “Tell me, how did I, a lowly powerless Princess, save the life of the great second in command of the Hoard?”

 

Catra growled and squeezed her hand a little bit too tight, but Glimmer grinned and just squeezed it right back. 

 

“Look, I already told you.  I _lost_ it.  The last time I was in one of these things I…  I saw some stuff.  _Memories_ , of me and Adora.  I think they made me go a little crazy.  I think I was going crazy already maybe.  I never wanted to admit how much Adora’s leaving hurt.  How much everything was getting to me.  I was just angry.  And after our defeat at Bright Moon I think I went a little power mad too.” 

 

“More like just mad in general,” Glimmer commented.  Catra gave her hand another squeeze, though whether it was out of warning or agreement she couldn’t tell. 

 

“Yeah, well.  You saw what I became.  All I wanted was to hurt Adora.  I wanted her to hurt like I was.  Make her pay, but..  Look, if you didn’t snap me out of it somebody was gonna end up dead.  And as much as I still…  As much as I can’t forgive her, killing Adora isn’t going to bring her back.” 

 

Catra paused and considered what she had just said. 

 

“…Wow, I _was_ crazy.  Anyway, your mumbo jumbo back there really let me get my head on straight.  Or as straight as any part of me can be anyway.  So, I owe you.  And I don’t like the idea of having to owe a rebellion Princess, so I’m not going to kill you today and once we’re out you’re free to go.” 

 

Glimmer mulled this over as they walked.

 

“Why do you hate the rebellion?” she asked finally.

 

“Do you really have to ask?” 

 

“I know Adora has been trying to get you to join us ever since she did,” Glimmer went on.  “You could have come with her at any time.  She’s She-Ra.  She would make the rebellion accept you whether we wanted to or not.  Why not just go with her?” 

 

Glimmer felt Catra grip her hand hard again. 

 

“Because while Adora may be accepted with trumpets and streamers everywhere she goes, some of us aren’t.  Some of us just aren’t wanted, and we have to fight for everything.  I spent my entire life fighting for respect and now I finally have it!  I’m not about to throw that all away just because Adora couldn’t be bothered to see reality for sixteen years!”  Catra stopped to turn and look at her.  Pain and blame burned in her mismatched eyes.  “And while we’re at it, you could use a wakeup call too!” 

 

“Me?!?”

 

“Yeah, _you_!”  Catra said, poking Glimmer in the chest with a claw.  “Your rebellion may talk big about freedom and justice and all that crap, but what about the people who don’t’ fit into your grand scheme, huh?  The one’s who aren’t all perfect looking and beautiful.  What about the freaks like me, huh?  You princesses sit all soft and cozy in your castles, while the rest of us live on the streets trying to find scraps of muddy paper to keep us from freezing to death at night.”

 

“That’s not-” Glimmer began, but Catra cut her off again. 

 

“The hoard is the only family I ever had, and do you know why?  Because of my eyes!  Because beastfolk think that anyone born different will bring a curse on the entire village.  My own mother threw me out into the fright zone without so much as a _name_ because of some stupid superstition!  Those are the kinds of people your precious rebellion is protecting.  Superstitious _bastards_ who think a baby with weird eyes will doom them, but some buff idiot with a sword will save them because some ancient book or something says so.  So yeah, the hoard may be evil, but at least they don’t turn you away at first sight!” 

 

Catra’s eyes burned into her for a few seconds more before the anger in them snuffed out, leaving pain and sorrow in its wake.  Catra turned away and began leading Glimmer off into the darkness again. 

 

Glimmer could feel Catra’s hand trembling in hers.  She had no idea how to respond to what Catra had said.  As much as she wanted to relate, she couldn’t.  They may as well have been raised on different planets for all the commonality they had in their upbringing.  Still, there was one thing in Catra’s story that Glimmer did have some insight in, and it bothered her.  After a few minutes of walking, Glimmer decided to bring it up. 

 

“I’ve lived around beastfolk all my life in the rebellion,” she said carefully.  “There’s plenty of them who have strange coloring, even a couple catfolk.  One of them even had two tails!  I’ve never heard of any superstitions about it before though, where did you hear about it?” 

 

“Shadow Weaver told me about it when I asked her about my family,” Catra said, sounding beyond exhausted.

 

In the darkness, Glimmer couldn’t see Catra come to a complete halt and crashed into her.  She let out a soft “ouff,” but Catra didn’t seem to react at all.  Glimmer felt her hand go completely slack. 

 

“Catra?”  Glimmer moved around her and saw Catra’s eyes staring into the blackness, wide and unblinking.  “Catra what… oh.”  Glimmer put her hand to her mouth as she realized the implications of what Catra had just said. 

 

They waited in tense silence for nearly a full minute until Glimmer heard Catra slowly let out a deep breath and saw her eyes close and disappear. 

 

“Good news for you,” Catra’s disembodied voice said quietly.  “I still can’t feel pure rage for longer than a few seconds.”

 

* * *

 

 

Eventually they came to another door.  This time the password was “Etheria,” and the door opened into a well-lit room with a familiar looking layout.  Catra quickly let go of Glimmer’s hand and began walking inside.  Glimmer caught her by the wrist and pulled her back. 

 

“Hang on,” she whispered.  “I’ve seen a room like this before.  There might be a First One’s hologram in there.  If it sees us and realizes we aren’t She-ra we’re gonna be in a lot of trouble.”

 

“I know,” Catra said sharply, pulling her wrist free but also whispering.  “I wasn’t going to just walk right out there like an idiot.”  She gestured towards the pillars circling the room.  

 

Glimmer nodded and together they began playing an odd game of hide and seek with a foe they weren’t even sure was there. 

 

“Which way is out?” Catra asked, after they had made it to the third pillar.  Glimmer nodded towards the open doorway directly across from the First Ones terminal. 

 

“That way.  That’s the way we came in in the other temple anyway.” 

 

Catra nodded and they continued dashing between the pillars until they came to the one closest to their presumed exit. 

 

“Okay,” Glimmer whispered, slightly panting.  “Almost there.  On three, we make a break for it.  Ready?” 

 

Catra looked at her skeptically. 

 

“You sure you’re not going to pass out half way there?”  Glimmer shot her a glare and Catra held up her hands.  “Okay okay, yeah, ready when you are.” 

 

 “Alright, one.  Two...” 

 

“Intruder detected,” said an ominously robotic voice.

 

“Three!” Catra yelled and ran towards the door.  Glimmer grimaced and raced after her as fast as she could.  Just as Catra reached the doorway, the room turned red and the doors began to slam shut.  Catra made it through with just enough time to turn around and watch the door slam shut in front of Glimmer. 

 

“No!” Glimmer screamed, pounding on the door.  “No, no, no!  Come on!”

 

“Intruder detected,” the voice said again.

 

“We’re trying to _un_ intrude!” Glimmer screamed back.

 

An inhuman screech came back in reply.  Following the direction of the sound, she saw that one of the doorways was still open, and it was filling with multiple sets of glowing red eyes.  Closing her own eyes she tried reaching for any last sparks of power she had left to her.  She only had to teleport two feet to get past the door and reach Catra, but even as she tried to will herself to make that tiny jump, she felt her head spin and nearly collapsed to her knees.  She was completely empty. 

 

As a trio of shrieking First One’s spiders circled around her, Glimmer wiped the sweat from her brow and readied her staff.  She knew it was useless, knew that she would probably be overwhelmed even before she could land a decent hit on one of the horrible creatures, but Glimmer never backed down from a fight, no matter how hopeless. 

 

“Okay you ugly… whatever you ares,” she said, raising her staff over her head.  “As Adora would say, let’s do this!” 

 

She let out a battle cry and charged at the closest monstrosity.  It roared up to meet her, but before they could connect, there was a feline roar and something tan, crimson, and powerful fell out of the ceiling and landed on top of the creature, along with the kicked in remnants of what looked like an air vent cover.  Glimmer skidded to a stop as Catra tore into the creature’s eyes with her bare hands, ripping sparking wires and mechanical components apart as if she were tearing apart a sheet of wet cardboard.  Once the first spider was sufficiently damaged, Catra pounced on the next and began tearing into it. 

 

Glimmer watched in awe as Catra’s powerful claws made quick work of the First One’s security bots.  She was so different then how she had been a few hours ago.  Catra was focused, powerful, and moved so quickly she seemed to almost anticipate her foe’s movements before they did.  It was quite a change from the berserk, feral thing she had been only a few hours ago.  There was almost a beauty to her as she nimbly dodged the swipes of her foe and struck back with a _truly_ catlike grace.  Watching her go, Glimmer felt the same stirring in her chest as when she had seen She-Ra come to their rescue for the first time. Then Glimmer caught a flash of movement in her peripheral.    

 

“Look out!” 

 

Catra looked up with her hand buried wrist deep in the second spider’s head, just in time to see the third spider spit a wad of sticky webbing at her.  Unable to free her hand in time, the webbing struck her full in the torso and splashed over her face and limbs, trapping her.  The spider pulled back on its catch and Catra toppled forward onto the ground with a grunt.  Struggling to free herself, she heard the whine of damaged machinery above her.  She looked up, and her eyes widened as she saw the sparking and spasming spider she had just been destroying raise up one long sword like leg over her head. 

 

“ ** _SMASH_**!”

 

The damaged spider toppled onto its side, sending up a shower of sparks as Glimmer dug the sharp point of her staff into its abdomen.  Catra watched in amazement as Glimmer tore a three inch wide hole in the spider, causing it to give one more spasm before the power in its eyes drained away and it fell limp.  Glimmer dug her staff in once more to make sure it was dead, then her eyes fluttered and she collapsed, still feebly holding onto her staff. 

 

“Mimmer!” Catra said through a mouthful of webbing.  Catra quickly curled into a ball, and using the claws of her feet, cut through the webbing binding her arms and chest with one swift kick.  She quickly tore the rest of the webbing away and rushed over to Glimmer. 

 

The last thing Glimmer saw was Catra pulling her away from the still sparking spider, and then ripping loose her staff to stand between her and the remaining spider.

 

As her vision faded completely, Catra leapt onto it, wielding her father’s staff like a spear, as three more spiders crawled into view from the open tunnel. 

 

 

 


	4. Epilogue

When she came too, the first thing Glimmer heard was the rustling of trees and birdsong.  She could feel the grass under her arm, and her head was laying on something pleasantly soft and warm.  Daylight rudely forced its way through her eyelids making her groan in protest.  She blindly groped around for her cape to cover her face as she nuzzled into her warm pillow. 

 

She heard a soft chuckle from somewhere above her, and felt a pointed finger poke her cheek. 

 

“Don’t get _too_ comfortable there, Princess.” 

 

Glimmer sat up with a start.  She opened her eyes but was temporarily blinded by the bright midafternoon sunlight.  Squinting, she was just able to make out the familiar scenery of the Whispering Woods.  She turned and saw Catra getting to her feet, casually brushing off her lap as she did so. 

 

“What happened?” Glimmer asked.  She tried to get to her feet as well, but found it difficult with her still wobbly limbs. 

 

Catra held out a hand. 

 

“You saved me, I saved you, you saved me again, and then I saved you again.” 

 

She gave Glimmer that cocky smile Catra usually saved for Adora.  Glimmer blinked for a moment at the hand Catra had offered her, then smiled back and took it.  Catra pulled Glimmer to her feet, then used her foot to kick the staff that had been laying next to them into the air and caught it. 

 

“Ya know, this thing is pretty alright,” she said giving it a quick twirl before handing it back to Glimmer.  “Sure hurt my fingers a lot less than having to tear all those things apart with my bare claws.”

 

Glimmer took the staff and gave it a quick inspection.  Apart from some new scratches and scorch marks she’d have to buff out back at Bright Moon, it seemed undamaged.  Satisfied, she leaned her weight on it and looked back at Catra, still smiling.

 

“Bright Moon should be about half a mile that way,” Catra said, pointing over Glimmer’s shoulder.  “I hope you’re okay going that far on your own because this is about as close as I’m getting to it.” 

 

Glimmer looked over her shoulder.  She felt the pull of the Moonstone drawing her home and took a deep breath. 

 

“I’ll be fine,” she said, turning back to Catra.  “What about you?” 

 

Catra jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.  “Just gotta follow the hoard’s trail of destruction through the forest till I get far enough out to call for a ride.” 

 

“Okay, well… I guess I better get going then,” Glimmer said, awkwardly. 

 

“Yep,” Catra agreed, nodding and looking at a nearby tree. 

 

A gentle wind rustled the trees and Catra’s mane of hair as they both stood awkwardly waiting for the other to turn away. 

 

“You know,” Glimmer began, but Catra held up a hand. 

 

“If you’re going to say I should come back with you, save it.  Adora may be okay with leaving everyone she ever loved behind the second she sees through the Hoard’s bullshit, but I’m not.  I told you, I worked damn hard to get where I am today, and while I admit I’m not on the right side, you all definitely want a nice _sane_ Catra in charge, instead of some other lunatic like Shadow Weaver.  Plus,” she added, her expression softening.  “I can’t leave Scorpia and Entrapta.  The fright zone is Scorpia’s homeland, and Entrapta wouldn’t give up the research she’s doing there for the world.  Literally, she’s nearly ended the world once already.  Speaking of which I should probably be getting back soon, it’s been a few hours since anyone has been there to supervise her…” 

 

Both Catra and Glimmer shot a worried look towards the direction of the Fright zone, and somewhere within Entrapta sneezed. 

 

“Actually,” Glimmer said, “I was thinking about what you said.  About, me saving you, you saving me.”

 

“Yeah?” Catra said raising an eyebrow. 

 

“Well, by my math, it seems we’d be even now, except that you’re still letting me go.  So that means I’m in your debt now.  And I don’t like the idea of owing a Hoard Commander.” 

 

Glimmer’s tone was playful, and Catra couldn’t help but give a little laugh. 

 

“So I get a favor huh?  Let me think.”  She put her hand to her chin and made an exaggerated thinking face.  “How about… the moonstone?”

 

“Sorry,” Glimmer said, putting up her hands in mock apology.  “That still belongs to my Mom till I turn one hundred.”

 

Catra blinked.

 

“How old are you now?” she asked, confused. 

 

“Ninety six,” Glimmer said, casually looking over at a tree.

 

“ _Ninety six_?!?” 

 

Catra’s jaw fell open as she stared at Glimmer, dumbfounded.  Glimmer managed to keep a straight face for all of three seconds before she cracked a smile and started laughing.  Catra scowled and flattened her ears. 

 

  
“No way a shrimp like you is ninety-six.”

 

“Sixteen!”  Glimmer said, wiping a tear from her eye.  “I’m sixteen, okay?  Oh stars, you should have seen your face.” 

 

Catra harrumphed and crossed her arms and Glimmer finished her giggling.  When she was done, Glimmer turned and started off towards Bright Moon. 

 

“Well, if you ever think of what you want, you know where to find me,” she said, waving over her shoulder.  “See you around.” 

 

“Wait!”

 

Glimmer turned around and saw Catra had taken a step towards her, her hand slightly outstretched as if she wanted to stop Glimmer from leaving.  Catra quickly looked away and let her arm fall back at her side.

 

“Don’t tell Adora.”

 

“Huh?” Glimmer asked, surprised. 

 

“Don’t tell Adora,” Catra repeated.  “About… any of this.  Just say that you teleported me away, blasted me, then teleported into the forest and passed out.  Don’t tell her about me.  She’d just get the wrong idea and think I was ready to defect.” 

 

Glimmer watched her carefully. 

 

“Do you think you ever _will_ be ready?” 

 

There was a long silence as Catra bit her lip. 

 

“I don’t know.  I think I’ll try dethroning Hordac and taking over the hoard first though.  Then we can do peace talks and stuff and I can get my own kingdom in the Frightzone.  Maybe make Scorpia and Entrapta the royal consorts or something.” 

 

Glimmer cocked her head to the side. 

 

“What’s a consort?” 

 

Catra shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I think it’s like a peace general or something.  Anyway, that’s my favor.  Don’t tell Adora about this.”

 

“Done,” Glimmer said, nodding.  Catra nodded as well and started to turn to walk away.  “And Catra?”

 

She stopped and looked back at Glimmer. 

 

“Yes?” 

 

“If you ever do decide to defect, just know you’ll have at least _two_ friends waiting for you in the rebellion.” 

 

Catra smiled and turned away. 

 

“Good to know,” she said quietly.  And the two went back to their own sides of the war. 

 

* * *

 

 

Catra definitely did not cry as she made her way back to the First One’s temple she had dragged Glimmer out of.  The stupid forest just gave her bad allergies.  When she was close enough, and her face was dry, she activated the destress signal on Entrapta’s device.  When she arrived at the clearing in front of the temple, she had just enough time to check on the “present” she had hauled out of the temple after getting Glimmer to safety, before Scorpia’s personal cruiser flew overhead. 

 

Catra smiled and waved.  At least she wouldn’t be coming back empty handed.

 

Scorpia landed the cruiser and met Catra at the rear gangplank.  Before Catra could say anything, Scorpia scooped her up into a bone crushing hug. 

 

“They said you were dead!” Scorpia wailed, cradling Catra as she struggled to escape. 

 

“If you don’t stop crushing me,” Catra wheezed, “I will be.”

 

Scorpia let go of her and Catra bent over gasping for breath and checking for broken ribs. 

 

“Sorry, sorry,” Scorpia said, backing away.  “Forgot about the personal space thing, sorry.  Just a bit emotional.” 

 

Catra held up a hand.  “It’s okay, I figured everyone would mark me K.I.A. when Glimmer disappeared with me.  Be too much to hope that anyone would actually want me around enough to look for me.” 

 

“I’ve been circling the forest for hours looking for your destress signal!” Scorpia insisted, pointing back at the cruiser.  “And Entrapta’s been worried sick too!” 

 

Catra raised an eyebrow. 

 

“She was!” Scorpia insisted.  “She hasn’t taken off her mask since she heard you went missing!  She’s gonna be so relieved when we tell her your safe.  So yeah, we care…” 

 

Scorpia stuck out her lower lip and began playing with her claws, looking utterly downcast.  Catra sighed and put a hand on her hip as she ran a hand through her hair. 

 

“I guess I meant ‘anyone else,’ she said, looking at the ground.  “I figured you two would be dumb enough to still look for me.  Even after how I’ve been treating you.”

 

Now Scorpia raised an eyebrow.  Catra rolled her eyes. 

 

“Look, I’ve been a monster lately and I admit it!  I’ve been driving everyone way to hard, especially you and Entrapta so… I’m sorry.” 

 

The tip of Scorpia’s tail appeared in front of Catra’s face. 

 

“Who are you, and what have you done with Catra?” 

 

Catra slapped the tail away and glared at her. 

 

“Will you cut it out, I’m trying to have a moment with you, okay!  Look I… I got to thinking about a lot of stuff while I was gone and… and I had some sense blasted into me.  I’ve been so focused on revenge I lost sight of what’s _actually_ important.  I’ve been obsessed with Adora, and that is way too much like… like someone else I could mention,” she said, her face darkening.  “So, I’m sorry.  And, as part of that apology…” 

 

Catra kept her eyes on the trees as she opened her arms towards Scorpia.  “Just this once, got it?”

 

Scorpia practically had stars in her eyes as she gasped with delight.  For her part, Catra braced herself for another bone crushing hug, but was surprised when she felt Scorpia wrap her arms around her quite gently.  She felt Scorpia’s tail press softly against her back as well, careful to keep the end pointed away from her friend. 

 

“Welcome back, Kitty,” Scorpia said softly. 

 

Catra allowed herself a smile and returned the hug, tail and all. 

 

“Thanks…”

 

Catra let Scorpia decide how long the hug lasted, but Scorpia pulled away before too long.  As they separated Catra coughed awkwardly into her hand and straightened up business like. 

 

“Okay, now we got that out of the way, give me a claw loading this stuff on to the ship so we can get going.”

 

Scorpia smiled as she followed Catra over to what appeared to be a decently sized pile of scrap metal and wires. 

 

“What’s this stuff?” she asked, picking up a multieyed metal head. 

 

“First One robots,” Catra said, picking up an armful of severed legs and gears.  “At least what’s left of them.  They’re my apology present to Entrapta.  They’re pretty trashed, but I figure she should be able to upgrade Emily a few times with what I was able to salvage.” 

 

Scorpia whistled and hefted up a mostly intact robot.  She looked at Catra through a large hole punched cleanly through the center. 

 

“You think these things will help upgrade our bots too?”

 

“Honestly, I don’t care right now,” Catra said with a sigh.  “Soon as we get back I’m ordering everyone on mandatory R and R for the next few days, including me.” 

 

Scorpia chuckled. 

 

“I guess we could all use a break.”

 

“Yeah,” Catra said, looking towards bright moon.  “We all could.” 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, so that’s finally done. Or is it? Truth be told, writing this I had ideas for several follow up stories about these two, all ending in an OT3 with Adora of course. If you like this story and would like to see me write the sequels, how about clicking that kudos button or leaving a comment? Or two? Or four? Still, this is quite the rarepare right now so show your support if can please!


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